Diabetes studies increase the risk of dementia

Dementia risk increased by 60 percent due to diabetes
The risk of dementia is dramatically increased by diabetes. An average of 60 percent of the risk of dementia in men and women with type 2 diabetes compared to people without diabetes, reports an international research team in the journal "Diabetes Care". In addition, the scientists led by Rachel Huxley of the University of Sydney found that women with type 2 diabetes are at particularly high risk of so-called vascular dementia.
"Type 2 diabetes causes a greater increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease in women than in men," explain Huxley and colleagues. This has led them to the question whether a corresponding gender difference may also be found in so-called vascular dementia. In addition, in their current study, they examined the extent to which there is a fundamental correlation with the occurrence of dementia in type 2 diabetes. The result was clearly surprising.

Women with diabetes are especially likely to suffer from vascular dementia
In their comprehensive meta-analysis, the scientists used data from 14 studies with a total of 2.3 million participants (including 102,174 patients with dementia) to uncover possible associations between the risk of dementia and existing diabetes. "In several adjusted analyzes, diabetes has been assigned a 60 percent increased risk of any form of dementia in both sexes," the researchers write in the journal Diabetes Care. In addition, in women, the risk of vascular dementia has increased 19 percent more than in men, Huxley and colleagues report.

The established relationship between type 2 diabetes and dementia is certainly questionable, because for patients with diabetes, dementia can have particularly severe consequences. For those who forget to take their insulin or lose track of the food they eat, they quickly face life-threatening complications. (Fp)